


Sharing the World

by Kiss_Shining



Series: Entertaining Off-screen Circumstances [1]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, David Adopts Max (Camp Camp), Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Platonic Maxvid, Pre-Slash, References to Depression, Soft Max (Camp Camp)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2019-12-31 22:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18323297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiss_Shining/pseuds/Kiss_Shining
Summary: Between the two of them, sometimes Max wasn’t sure who was the father and who was the son.





	Sharing the World

**Author's Note:**

> Spontaneous one-shot with no serious motive or plot. Enjoy!

It was the first year since he’s been here that Max actually felt like he was part of some sort of make-shift family, and just like that, it was taken away from him. But he should have expected that. Since when did things ever go right for him? Besides meeting Nikki and Neil—and _maybe_ David and Gwen—his life was one huge shit show, and he knew it. There was no reason to have any unrealistic expectations, and this was just one more example of why.

After Max, David, Gwen and Cameron finally managed to get everyone back together, Max had some sort of similitude of happiness. It wasn’t something that he broadcasted daily, but he let the people who really mattered most know about it. He’d do them a favor or two for free, maybe give them a little advice here and there. Maybe he’d go along with one of their adventures that spiraled a little too out of control. Small things that brought a little smile onto their face, small things that made their backs straighten a bit more, small things that put a little prep in their step.

And then just like that, the camp was over.

Everyone’s parents came for their children for good, and it was Max, Gwen, and David again, just like it was before. Nikki offered to take Max home with her until his parents showed, but her mother was certain that Max had his own parents that could pick him up, and well, he wasn’t going to correct her when it was none of her business in the first place. So he waited for his parents. Hours, days, and then weeks passed with no holler from them, and he just _knew_. He was going to tell David to just drop him off in front of his house since that was the only way he was getting home, but after two months after no response from his parents, David sat him down in the vacant cafeteria.

He offered Max an ice cream cone in a quaint little ceramic bowl. Max already knew it was to butter him up into talking.

Shoving the spoon to the side of his mouth, he said, “Let’s cut to the chase, David. What do you want to know?”

David’s eyes lowered to the table.

“Do they do this at home, too?”

“…what?”

“ _This_.” He gestured to the empty cafeteria, to the two of them. “Do they just…leave you alone like this at home, too?”

Max could’ve lied, but there was no reason to, not when the situation obviously spoke for itself. He could have deflected, but David and Gwen already saw him vulnerable once before. Deflecting worked just as well as lying. So he just sighed, putting his forehead against the wooden table. He felt much more exhausted than he had any right to be, considering he did nothing but sit around nowadays.

“What do you think?”

For a moment, David didn’t say anything. And then, as tentatively and delicately as the question required, he asked:

“Then would you like to stay with me?”

At that, Max sat up. He wasn’t sure what his face looked like, but it must have been pretty enraged for David to flinch so badly.

“Are you _serious_?”

“Well, I mean, just until your parents come and pick you up,” David backpedaled, his hands making a placating motion. “I mean, you have school, don’t you? It’s been two months and you’re missing all of that work. And it’s not like you can stay here forever—”

“Fucking hell. Look, I don’t need that, David. All you have to do is just drop me back home, and then I’ll be out of your hair,” Max interrupted, shoving the spoon back into the edge of the bowl. Although it looked so appetizing before, for some reason, the soggy ice cream didn’t appeal to him as much now. “I mean, it’s obvious that they’re not going to pick me up anytime soon.”

“…If that’s what you want.”

Max didn’t respond, but he gave a curt nod.

“Alright. We can go whenever you’re ready.”

When they got there, despite both of his parents’ cars being in the driveway, despite the light being on in their common room, when Max knocked on the door, no one answered. He could hear the television on as plain as day, he heard talking, he heard someone come to the door, but no one opened it for him. No one acknowledged him. A part of him wanted to bang on the door to _make_ them notice—they couldn’t just leave their ten-year-old child on the front steps; he knew that his parents were hypersensitive about how their neighbors thought about them—but another part knew it was futile.

He still lifted his fist to bang regardless.

And then he stopped.

His mother was there in the window, staring at him. But the _way_ she stared at him…

She didn’t know him.

She didn’t know him, and he was a random child making a ruckus in front of her house.

She didn’t know him, he was a random child making a ruckus in front of her house, and she was five seconds away from calling the cops.

She couldn’t, could she? If she ever called the police, she and her husband would be possibly locked away for child neglect. At the very least, Max would be thrown into a foster home for years to come, waiting for some pathetic sap to take pity on his rebellious ass. But if he were honest with himself, he didn’t want to test it out. People’s true colors tend to come out when they’re cornered. He didn’t want to be the one to corner them.

Max sucked in a small breath and briskly walked back to David’s beat-up jalopy. He opened the door, climbed in the back seat, and shut the door behind him. Leaning against the window, he muttered, “Lead the way.”

Wordlessly, David jammed on the gas, driving a little faster than he normally would, maybe about twenty kilometers over the speed limit. If he was angry, he didn’t show it; he had a pretty neutral expression when Max glanced at him through the interior mirror, but if the way his hands clenched and relaxed around the steering wheel was any indication, he was probably upset as well. He probably blamed himself for this whole thing. Maybe if Max had a bit more tact, if he wasn’t so exhausted, then he probably would have comforted David, told him not to worry about it. This happened to kids all the time; he wasn’t anyone special, he wasn’t _anything_.

He shouldn’t have been so disappointed.

“…it’s okay if you want to cry.”

Max dug his nails into the palm of his hand.

“…shut up.”

As the tears silently ran down his face—he quickly rushed to wipe them with the back of his sleeve—he reminded himself that his parents weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. They weren’t the ones who changed, Max did. While he was away, despite priding himself on his pessimism, he somehow became optimistic along the way. There was a little part of him that wished that things would have been different, that he would have been loved. There was a little part of him that believed that somewhere in his parents’ heart was a spot for him. Even if it was an infinitesimal spot, there was still _something_.

But there was nothing.

His life was one huge shit show. This was just one more example of why.

* * *

 From there, things progressed rather quickly.

After much deliberation, David finally gave Max a choice: he could either have David, who was pretty much a third party minus the fact that he was his temporary caretaker, press charges for child neglect and have him taken away from his parents, with the possibility of him legally adopting Max, or he could find another relative to put him with. When Max heard that, his face soured.

“ _That’s_ the best you could come up with? Either pay a shit ton of money for a case that’ll take god knows how long to close, or pawn me off to another relative that won’t give a shit either way? Really?”

“W-well, you can’t just stay here without anyone knowing. That’s illegal!”

“And whose gonna tell? You? Me? Don’t tell me you still think my parents are gonna give a shit. They obviously don’t want to take me back. You’re an idiot if you couldn’t see that from last night. And it’s not like my folks and the rest of my family are warm and fuzzy with each other.”

“I…”

“Didn’t you suggest that just not too long ago? Stay with you until they actually gave a damn?”

“I only meant, you know, I—okay, fine. Fine.” David rubbed his face, his fingers finally resting on the bridge of his nose. “I just don’t think this is the right way to go about it. I’d rather do things the correct way than have it blow up in our faces later down the line. I did want you to stay with me if…if you were just going to be by yourself in your house, but not like this. This is no better than kidnapping.”

“Sure it is. I’m willingly staying in your house.”

“You can’t legally consent to _any_ of this, Max.”

“And that’s why you’re gonna keep your mouth shut.” When David’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, Max sighed. He wasn’t going to impose himself where he wasn’t wanted. As it was, there was already a niggling sense of guilt in the back of his mind, just waiting to blossom to the forefront. The adrenaline that he had to push David’s careless suggestion through fizzled the second night that David took the two of them to a hotel to sleep over. He wasn’t sure how much it costed, but he was under no illusions to how expensive a night could be.

“Listen. If you don’t want to do this, that’s fine by me. Just let me go—”

“No, no, no. I can’t do that to you. I’m not going to just…abandon you like that.”

So, begrudgingly, David allowed Max to stay in his home without further ado. Because David lived in a small apartment on the edge of a grey-collared suburban area, the space he had was modest, but it was more than enough for the two of them. He placed Max in the guest room, and since Max didn’t have any clothes to speak of, it didn’t take much time for him to settle in. And to be honest, it was rather nice. It was much bigger than the room he had in his parents’ house, with a small veranda in back of a set of glass window door panels, unmarred burgundy painted walls, a maple cabinet with an overbearingly large mirror, a miniature desk to the side of a queen-sized bed, and two sliding doors leading to an empty closet. Overhead was a revolving fan with two light bulbs wrapped in a glass flower set. That night, Max clutched Mr. Honeynuts harder than he ever had before, feeling a bit smaller than he would have liked.

The next morning, at seven o’clock on the dot, David rapped on his door. He sounded fairly more cheerful than he did last night, but how much of that was sheer willpower, Max didn’t know.

“Max, we’re going out! Hurry up and get up.”

“…go by yourself. This isn’t camp anymore.”

“Aw, don’t be like that. I’m going out for you after all. So come on, get up. I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get dressed. Oh, and your breakfast is already ready.” Max heard as David hummed to himself as he walked away, and he uncurled himself from bed, not bothering to fix the sheets before he grabbed the same clothes he wore for the last three days straight. He debated taking a shower, but he decided against it. It was too much trouble, and it wasn’t as if he smelled. Yet.

David was waiting for him patiently at his small dining room table, his food long since warm and tea long gone cold. Max’s food was just across his own, coffee still piping hot, and food covered with a paper towel to preserve the heat. Once Max sat down, David started eating.

“Isn’t this just like in Camp? We all used to sit at tables just like this. Oh, but you used to be with Nikki and Neil, right? Do you know if they have a cell phone?”

Max grunted before he began to pick at his food silently. But then he reconsidered it. It wasn’t like there was anyone else to humor him after all. And he did owe David a debt. Even if it was David’s idea in the first place, he pushed the issue. David didn’t have to take him in. If he were anyone else, no matter how much Max may have threatened, or, god forbid, _begged_ , his ass would have been sent to Child Protective Services faster than he could say ‘no’.

“Neil’s got one. Gave me his number before he left. Nikki has a phone, but she dropped it in the toilet. You’re gonna give me yours?”

“I was thinking about something a bit different. But we can talk about that later. So! Today is Saturday. I’d like it that by Monday you return back to school. Which means that we have a little bit of paperwork to do. Do you know the address?”

Max scoffed. “What do you think I am, a blithering idiot? Of course I know the address. And I can do all the paperwork. All you need to do is give me whatever you need and act as my…guardian. Since they don’t know what my parents look like, you just need to act natural.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can. I’ve been doing it all this time. Look, I know that I’m imposing, but I want to make this thing as easy as possible. Trust me when I say I can do this. Now are we going out or what?”

Max knew that David knew him well, so when he gave a resigned sigh, he took it as another win. He watched as David gathered both of their dishes and neatly packed it into the sink before washing his hands, drying them, and then putting on his coat. Max already had on his sweater, so he was ready to go. When they were leaving the house, without even blinking an eye, David bent down and wrapped a scarf around Max's neck. Almost immediately, he ripped it off and threw it back at David.

“I don’t need this,” he said. “What I have on is just fine.”

“It’s twenty degrees out there, Max,” David explained as he re-wrapped the scarf around his neck, tightening it even more the second time around. “I’m not going to risk you getting sick before you even go back to school. Just bear with it for now, okay?”

“I—” He swallowed his complaints. After all, just like David knew him, he knew David as well. He supposed he could fight him on this, but he owed him. He didn’t have to do this. He didn’t have to care for someone like _him_. And he didn’t want him to. He didn’t need him to.

He knew that David would still do it anyways.

So after clenching and relaxing his fists a few times, he sullenly conceded.

“Fine.”

* * *

 

Max has lived with David for about six months. And honestly? Between the two of them, sometimes Max wasn’t sure who was the “father” and who was the “son”.

David knew so little about how things worked that Max honestly wondered how he managed to make it this far. When David was shopping for clothes for him for the first time—of which Max fought the entire way there and the entire way back because he didn’t want to do this, and damn if that marshmallow would force him to be even further in his debt—while David searched for fashionable clothes that he thought Max would like, Max looked for the most economically sound clothes. David had suggested Nordstrom; Max had demanded Walmart. And because Max gave fifty reasons as to why spending two hundred dollars on five articles of clothing wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do unless he was filthy rich—which he was not—David finally gave in.

Grocery shopping was even worse.

Every time they went out to the nearest grocery store, Whole Foods Market, which had the very real possibility of becoming very expensive very quickly, David took one look at the organics section and just…brought a pack of each vegetable. He didn’t compare prices, he didn’t check for sales deals, he just impulsively bought what he would have liked for himself. One time, when they had finally gotten to the snack isle for Max, he finally spent fifteen minutes staring at each item to see which one had the better deal. But by then, Max had enough.

“David. What the ever-loving fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“Language, Max. And I’m trying to figure out which one’s better. But the prices are around the same, so I’m just—”

“Don’t you know what unit prices are? Look at the damn unit price. No, not that price, under that. For fuck’s sake, you’re an ecology teacher. How the hell did you survive until now? You barely get paid over fifty grand but you don’t know how to economize?”

David’s face flushed with embarrassment, and the giggles that one of the girls in the isle let slip past her lips made him feel even worse, if his hunched shoulders were any indication. A wave of irritation came over Max, and he pushed David away, coming close enough to the teenage girl’s cart to take a peek in.

“Looks like you’re no better, wasting money on cheap ass makeup that won’t make your skank face look halfway decent.”

Her giggling had abruptly stopped, and David, who had become pale in a matter of seconds, quickly grabbed Max’s hand, practically supplicating apologies all the way to her and back out. Once they were in front of the cash register, he lightly scolded Max for what he did.

“You can’t just say that to people, Max! That’s rude.”

“So you’re going to tell me that it’s okay if people laugh at you, but you can’t bite back? Fuck that. Also, use your debit. You’ve already used your credit on the other two stores.”

The cashier seemed to be surprised, glancing between Max and David before asking, “Are you his father?”

“I, uh…”

“That’s none of your business,” Max snapped, snatching the receipt from his hand.

“Max! Stop that. I’m sorry about him, he’s just a bit…”

“That’s fine,” she replied with a pleasant enough smile. “He’s probably at that age. Have a good day!”

That time at the cell phone carrier store had been pretty bad, too.

After using the GPS to find a store that was literally a block away from their shared apartment, David had wandered into the carrier store with purpose. For once, Max had thought that maybe David knew what he was doing since he went straight to the AT&T section, which was probably his carrier, but he quickly found out that, again, he knew nothing about nothing.

“…what are we doing here? Your phone isn’t broken.”

“We’re here to get you a phone, Max! I figured you might want one to keep in touch with Nikki and Neil.”

“Then I can just use yours, obviously.”

“Yes, but I’ll be in class. And it’s already been eight days since you’ve returned to school, and when I’m not with you, I worry about you all the time. I think it’d be nice to text each other so we know that we’re both safe.”

“So you’re telling me I can text in class then. Cause that’s what I’m gonna do if you buy me a phone.”

“No, don’t do that, just...oh, yes! Over here, please. Can you tell me which of these phones is good for him?”

The salesperson that had strolled over took one look at the cell phones that were neatly splayed across the table, and then strolled all the way to the right. He unlocked a slightly slimmer and larger phone and handed it to David.

“I’d say this one’s good for him. Of all the phones here, it has the largest retina HD display, which means that videos would be a bit larger on his screen, it is partially water resistant and has dual SIM-card function unlike the rest of the models, has portrait mode and lighting, eight times the digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording, and voice, face, and finger recognition. This phone also has seventy-two gigabytes of storage, two different types of external GPS systems in case you ever need to track him, and there is an iCloud based app already installed on here to activate the third built-in GPS for child protection. For all of this, this phone comes up to $529.99. But I see you’re also an AT&T user, so if you upgrade your phone too, it can be—”

“No.” Max had grabbed the phone that was all the way to the left, still in its container, and handed it to David. “We’re getting this one.”

“But this phone sounds so good! It’d be perfect for you. Even my phone doesn’t have 1080p HD video recording.”

“I’m not a photographer, David, I don’t need half of the shit on that phone. Not only that, but he’s obviously just trying to make a sale. Any responsible adult knows that giving a phone like that to a ten-year-old child’s just gonna end up as a waste of money. If you’re so hell-bent on getting me a damn phone, get me this one or none at all. I’m not taking that glorified paper weight.”

Both he and the salesperson were a bit disgruntled (and in the salesperson’s case, disgruntled, peeved, and more than a bit surprised), but in the end, Max got his wish.

And come to think about it, David sometimes improperly filed his taxes as well. He was many things, but organized wasn’t really one of them. Sure, he could clean like his life depended on it, but he was messy. His old paperwork always got mixed in with the new, and he misplaced a lot of his income statements. There were a few times that Max had to save a few important documents from being shredded. Max made it a habit of making David go over his online forms with him before sending it off to the IRS. The initial week that the 1040 was due, David had thoughtlessly placed himself as Max’s dependent, and Max almost lashed out at him for doing so.

So all in all, he really, really, _really_ couldn’t tell who the “father” was and who the “son” between them. Because most times found Max cleaning up after David’s sorry mistakes. He still had to steer him the right way, as if Max was the adult and David was the child.

He probably would continue to do so as long as he were there.

* * *

 But there were other times that Max really appreciated him, even if he never told him so.

Like right now.

A little bit each day, Max learned to unwind. There was always that small fear that he was being the burden, mainly because he pushed this relationship. _He_ made David take him in. _He_ made David buy him luxurious clothes and fancy dinners and delicious treats. He was used to being seen and not heard; that was one of the philosophies that his parents went by. He was used to being nothing, and that was fine, because that’s all he ever was. “ _If we hear you, it’s because you’re meant to be seen. But children should not be seen unless we want them to. They’re meant to sit and observe, nothing more_.” And for the most part, Max abided by those rules, if only for the fear of something much more brutal. It’s only when he realized that it wasn’t meant to be like that—even though he wasn’t the only one to go through this, even though this was typical for the underprivileged—that he became bitter. And when he became bitter, he began to take the world for what it was, not for the rose-colored glasses called ignorance that were shoved onto his eyes from birth. And when he saw the world, he saw it for the disgusting place it was. Understanding replaced bitterness, and absolute realism replaced understanding. Which was why he couldn’t take kindness at face value, much less in the mouth. But David…

David taught him that not everything was so black and grey. And Max should have known that. He did know that, instinctively, that was. But he’s never really seen it before now. In the beginning, he thought of him as another two-faced adult. Then he thought of him as a poser, a faker. After all, there was no one that was really _that_ happy, not in a world like this. Even Gwen hated to be in Camp, even though she had her own problems. But being with David for almost nine months made him unwind. Each time that David took him out somewhere with Nikki and Neil, he was grateful. Each time David took time off of school to visit Max at his, he relaxed just a bit more. And nights like these, nights where squeezing Mr. Honeynuts with all of his might did nothing but feebly tickle at something deep inside of his chest, something that hours and hours with his friends could never reach, nights where he held his knees to his chest and stared aimlessly at the wall, waiting for the sun to rise, David always came to join him on the couch without fail. And when Max wouldn’t look up from his spot, he’d always test the waters by asking:

“Can I?”

And when Max leaned back, which they both knew was his implicit confirmation, David sat on the arm of the couch and splayed his arm out, running his fingers lightly through Max’s hair until he relaxed enough to fall asleep.

Right now, as Max teetered along the edge of awareness and unconsciousness, he appreciated David more than anyone else. After all, he did the one thing that he always wanted, the one thing that he craved that his parents would even consider giving, but never once did.

He hoped that he could have enough courage to tell him someday.

**Author's Note:**

> Judging by how David was in season three when he was in the city as well as his crippling knowledge of innuendos, I imagine him to be pretty clueless when it comes to things that exceeds basic knowledge lol. When season four comes out, this is definitely gonna be AU as hell though lolol.


End file.
